Asia Pacific governments warned on IT security

SINGAPORE, 13 JUNE 2010 - Governments have been warned of the need to more closely collaborate globally to better combat international cyber terrorism.

IT market intelligence firm IDC believes public sector ICT security has now become the top ICT investment priority for Asia Pacific public sector executives in an increasingly complex digital threat landscape.

The warning has come in a new IDC study Building Resilience, Security and Privacy in Evolving Public Sector Environments.

The IDC report found that the public sector attitude to IT security was too relaxed. It said: An alarming proportion of public sector officers initiated investments in security products and services only upon experiencing or hearing data leaks or security breaches in their organisations or other similar sectors.

New security paradigm

Gerald Wang, senior market analyst at IDC Government Insights Asia Pacific said: "Given the global nature of IT security threats and the growing number of incidents targeting the public sector, IDC Government Insights foresees that a whole new complex IT security paradigm will emerge in the near future."

IDC maintains that virtualised threats have become increasingly complex due to emerging technologies such as cloud computing and Web 2.0. The threat environment has also evolved due to new ways of transacting information through new media and Web 2.0 initiatives.

The study found that X-as-a-service platforms, infrastructure and applications will further complicate ICT security considerations as Asia Pacific public sectors foray into new ways of accessing IT software and computing resources through the cloud.

Janet Chiew, research manager at IDC Government Insights Asia Pacific, said critical national initiatives such as cost reduction, jobs creation and economic revival have been taking centrestage since the start of the economic sub-prime crisis in September 2008, but the tide has changed.

Increasingly open information

We see growth in the security front as governments contend with new societal and technological trends that increasingly demand open access to information and data over exposed public networks, Chiew said.

"To combat international cyber terrorism, Asia Pacific public sectors need to continually address the disclosure, archival and ownership of data surrounding Web 2.0 and social media, as well as increase collaborations at national and global levels."

She said that, starting with national security masterplans and policies, it is integral that governments put in place structured mechanisms so as to bring about tangible results when implementing ICT security."